Friday, March 02, 2007

The Invisible Church of the Perpetual Raccoon

Are there collective psychospiritual weather patterns? Yesterday, most everyone commented on what a strange day it felt like, beginning with the strange absence of comments. As Cosanostradamus put it in his cosmic weather report, "birth [congrampalations, Nomo!--GB], death, rebirth, waves of light, black holes, wild weather." Tornadoes and stock market crashes... Ms. E. said it felt like a mixed atmosphere in which "the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." Will called it a "very quiet dream-like day, a liminal day." Another Bob observed that it was an eerily "quiet day," and ominously added, "I hope everybody's OK."

It was certainly a not-okay day for me. For whatever reason, I woke up with low blood sugar and had some difficulty getting it up into the normal range all day -- as if there were some kind of "metabolic fire" burning in me. I've certainly felt the fire in recent weeks, but this was too much. I was uncharacteristically under -- or was I in? -- the weather all day. Weird.

But this mutual perception of a "weird day" does bring up the issue of our "collectivity" and just where it resides, for although "interconnectedness" surely exists as a consequence of the principle of Wholeness that flows through every artery of the cosmos, there is no particular "place" where it can be located. You can't point at wholeness from the outside, only experience it from the inside (which is the secret of consciousness, which is a reflection of the Creator's unifying interior wholeness-amdist-diversity). This causes a lot of confusion for philosophers and metaphysicians who try to arrive at wholeness additively instead of beginning with it as an assumption, which one must do.

It seems that a group is a group by virtue of "tuning in," so to speak, to some sort of resonant field of consciousness. The essential point is that a group is not fundamentally externally related, or it's not really a group. Rather, it's just a "crowd" or a "mob." But a true group has an interior relationship, as if each of the members is literally tuned into the same frequency. What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about. I am quite sure you all know what I mean, even if you've never thought of it this way before. The surface structure of the topic hardly matters -- they can be talking about economics, or the war, or science, or religion, but whatever it is, the main thing you will detect is the deep structure of this painfully dissonant energy.

Now, in fairness, someone will no doubt say to me, "Bob, that's not a vibration you're feeling. It's just the unpleasant sensation of your own disagreement." Could be, but I don't think so. For example, I work in forensic psychology, so I am accustomed to crafting sound and unassailable medico-legal arguments. Part of this involves taking the report written by the whore who works for the other side and reducing it to dust with facts, logic, and the law. In doing so, there is "passion" involved, but it is nothing like the feeling of wading into the left wing fever swamps.

For one thing, the latter is a hellish world in which facts and rudimentary logic generally do not apply. Rather, the first thing one notices is that this world is held together by "feeling" or "sentiment," not by logical coherence. Underneath the "political left" is a "psychological left," and latter is far more primitive and dangerous, for they literally inhabit a self-contained psychological space similar to the black holes discussed yesterday. No light escapes. These people really do want to see the Vice President murdered, as we witnessed at huffington the other day. They really do idealize a thug such as Hugo Chavez. They really do hate George Bush much more than Saddam Hussein.

A religion is very much a resonant worldspace in the sense described above. For example, this is what the Master means when he says that he is present when any two or more meet in his name. This is quite literally true. The logos is magically made present through the triangulation of two people, somewhat similar to the manner in which a holograph works. My technical description is probably lacking, but I believe the hologram results from the interference pattern of two different beans of light. In any event, that's certainly how it works spiritually.

For example, this is how our Unknown Friend in Meditations on the Tarot can speak to us so intimately from beyond the horizon of death. I realize that is a challenging book for kits, but once you allow yourself to enter its world, it is as if you have entered this incredibly beautiful spiritual cathedral that the two of you are leisurely investigating together. He is your congenial tour guide, showing you this or that, often dwelling on random little points of arcane interest. The point is that it is a world -- and a beautiful one at that. It too resonates at a frequency -- the frequency being love, but also truth and beauty.

This is obviously what the secular person does not -- cannot -- understand about leading a religious life. They accuse us of "escapism," of believing in strange myths to shield us from the harsh realities of existence, in particular, death and loss. However, the opposite is patently true, at least for the invisible brotherhood of Raccoons. For us, religion is an inscape into the most beautiful supraterranean cave art ever co-created by human beings.

I have mentioned before that I happened to marry into a family of secular Jews, some of whom are quite unapologetic "anti-Jews." For example, only a Jew (or maybe Jimmy Carter) could get away with writing Uncle Peter's book on how the Holocaust is just a big PR scam to advance Israel's political interests.

(Don't worry -- I'm not airing dirty laundry in public. I like him and he likes me, even though he charitably regards my views as "not even insane." It is fascinating to talk to him, for it is fair to say that we agree on nothing, from the essential to the trivial. People talk about what it would be like to encounter an alien from another planet with a completely different frame of reference. Ahem. How concrete does one have to be to believe it is necessary to leave earth in order to have a close encounter of the third kind? Most Coons don't have to even leave their own family. The bottom line is that there are not enough Coon families for all Coons, so many of us had to drop into a non-Coon habitat, to put it mildly. In the case of Mrs. G. and myself, we consciously prayed for a little kit to come down into our Coon den. It worked.)

Now, if I were a less congenial fellow, I could easily turn a conversation with Uncle Peter into an ireworks show, but what would be the point? He lives in one world, I live in another. Can't we all just get along? For him, the question never arises as to whether he lives in "a" world, only "the" world. People talk about how religious fundamentalists live in their own world, but I cannot think of anyone with so naively parochial, crimped, and predictable a world as academia and the liberal media -- or primitive New York Timesman. You give me the topic and I'll tell you what they think. But my world -- if I may say so -- is fundamentally a world of surprise and of inexhaustible novelty. I never know what metaphysical goodies are awaiting me in the morning, including this post, for example. Nor do I have any idea where it's leading. Rather, I'm just following this little creek that was here in the morning when I got up.

In my world, it is impossible to be cynical. Yes, I am cynical about their world below -- how could one not be? -- but the eternal regeneration of my world is the best possible ungnowculation against cyncism. Again, some might say that it is a "naive" world, but that is not quite right, for we are as wise as serpents around here. Rather it is an innocent world, and the fact that this world coexists with the other world is something of a miracle -- that one can recapture one's primordial innocence and live as man was intended in this fallen world.

I had never attended any Jewish services until I got married. Naturally, just because my in-laws are secular, it doesn't mean that they don't try to resurrect the dead ghost of their Jewish past on sacred occasions. So I've attended these functions -- weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals, etc. While my relatives experience them as a social rituals, I remember on my very first visit to the synagogue, I realized that I was in contact with the sacred. In fact, I'm omitting my marriage, which was undoubtedly my first participation in a Jewish ritual. If the event had been presided over by a Christian holy man, then my relatives would have undoubtedly regarded his words as slightly sinister blah blah; if it had been a Vedantin priest, it would have been just goofy blah blah; but the fact that it was a rabbi made it just plain innocuous blah blah, the same old same old testament.

But not for me. First of all, the language was all new to me, so it was not saturated. Furthermore, I found the words of the rabbi so spiritually resonant and psychologically inspiring, that I knew I was in the presence of the sacred and the holy, and that my marriage was being blessed by this divine light. A resonant "world" was successfully invoked and tapped into, at least for me and for Mrs. G. For the rest, it was essentially a sentimental occasion, "sentimentality" being one of the most common replacements for religion among secular people. (Incidentally, I do not see now people who "write their own vows" could match the sacred potency of the words written by "no one" for "everyone.")

(By the way, until this very day, I had thought it was "Rabbi Kuhn." Only now do I realize it was "Rabbi Coon.")

Now, Rocky Raccoon asked a good question yesterday. He "was wondering today about the Arc of Salvation. Both Phase I and II were followed by a ‘book.' Do you think we have a new ‘book’ on the way for the 3rd Phase?"

No, I don't think so, although I suppose it would be a good hobby for me to try. But what will happen is that people will return to the original texts but understand them with "eyes made new" -- i.e., with Phase III Coon vision. They will "arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time."

And then perhaps each person will write their own book based upon their encounter with the Real -- sort of like how we can all respect giants like Beethoven but still "sing our own song." You know -- speaking of innocence -- something like this:

Sing, sing a songSing out loudSing out strongSing of good things not badSing of happy not sad

Sing, sing a songMake it simple to lastYour whole life longDon’t worry that it’s notGood enough for anyoneElse to hearJust sing, sing a song

*****

Folks, I hope this admission doesn't reduce my esteem in your ears, but -- I'll say it -- I am a big Carpenters fan. At the time (the early 70's) no one was regarded as less hip, but in hindsight, we can see that no one was more courageously "counter culture." I certainly dismissed them. But their musical sophistication speaks for itself -- probably no one aside from Brian Wilson wrote more complex vocal harmonies than Richard Carpenter, not to mention the extraordinarily subtle instrumental arrangements and production standards that rival Steely Dan -- and the unique voice of Karen Carpenter aches with a sad innocence and depth of longing that went unappreciated at the time (at least artistically). She is the greatest female pop vocalist of her generation (her phrasing and technique are so much more subtle than Babs). If you can put away your preconceptions, their masterpiece, A Song For You, is an amazing headphone experience (sounds richer on good vinyl -- the transcendent Goodbye to Love is awesome on Dupree's turntable). Any musican who is studying arrranging could profit from the experience. Here's the AMG review.

And no, I'm not gay.

(For you beginners and young kits, this is probably the best introduction. It has versions of songs that were actually remixed by Richard Carpenter for the digital age, so they sound closer to contemporary production values and more full on a CD player.)

*****From On Top of the World, Lookin' Down on Creation to the Kit who Fell to Earth:(Which reminds me, Sal: photo of sweater coming soon.)

109 Comments:

Bob,Been reading you daily for several months. It's one of the highlights of my day. I've never commented because I didn't feel I had much of significance to add. But now I feel compelled: I must mention that I too dig the Carpenters (I'm not gay either!) not to mention Steely Dan and Brian Wilson. Thank you, and keep up the good work!

That is the key to music, and playing anyone's songs, is that until the song is yours you can't really play it.

I recall, though this is going to be horribly pedestrian, that in the Harry Potter series, Hogwarts does not have a 'anthem' tune, just words, and all the students sing it to whatever tune they feel like.

A cacophony certainly results every time, but a subtle musical point being made by Rowling.

Phase 3 looks to me like, in a sense, "No man will say to his neighbor, 'know the Lord', for everyone shall already know him.' And through this knowledge each man will sing his 'song', and it won't turn out to be a Hogwartian Cacophony, but a harmony that flows from above and out from within.

But the Holy Ghost is working to prepare such a world where indeed men would be ready to call Christ Lord and not just out of sentimentality.

"To love God does not mean to cultivate a sentiment - that is to say, something that we enjoy without knowing whether God enjoys it - but rather to eliminate from the soul what prevents God from entering it." - F.Schoun

I went on a Carpenters music buying binge a few years ago when I experienced what was a basic change in the way I appreciate music. I still find a lot of the Carpenters music to be corny, sticky-sweet, etc. but there's also huge and rare talent there. Perhaps only the Carpenters could get me to listen to such corny music, if that makes any sense.

My favorite album turned out to be Horizon, and I highly recommend the collection "Interpretations: a 25th Anniversary Celebration" because it contains the previously unreleased "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" which is downright astounding to listen to. Matt Drudge has used it as a bumper for his radio show.

Finally, I read many Amazon.com reviews when I was buying their music. Many of their fans are men. A man who can appreciate The Carptenters is just a grown-up, that's all.

Towards the end of my flowing along in your little creek I found a familiar tributary when I spied "A Song for You" and followed it to it's source: Leon Russell.

I like Leon Russell.

I didn't buy Carpenter's albums; I bought Leon's. His version on his album "Leon Russell" is so soul-ful.

A SONG FOR YOUbyLeon Russell

I've been so many places in my life and timeI've sung a lot of songs I've made some bad rhymeI've acted out my love in stagesWith ten thousand people watchingBut we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you

I know your image of me is what I hope to beI've treated you unkindly but darlin' can't you seeThere's no one more important to meDarlin' can't you please see through meCause we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you

You taught me precious secrets of the truth witholding nothingYou came out in front and I was hidingBut now I'm so much better and if my words don't come togetherListen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding

I love you in a place where there's no space or timeI love you for in my life you are a friend of mineAnd when my life is overRemember when we were togetherWe were alone and I was singing this song for you

You taught me precious secrets of the truth witholding nothingYou came out in front and I was hidingBut now I'm so much better and if my words don't come togetherListen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding

I love you in a place where there's no space or timeI love you for in my life you are a friend of mineAnd when my life is overRemember when we were togetherWe were alone and I was singing this song for youWe were alone and I was singing this song for you

You are so right about the occasional "corniness." The truth is that every musical style must balance on a knife edge that can veer into a negative aesthetic territory. Thus, country music can veer into corniness or sentimentality, rock into narcissistc posing and general barbarism, jazz into mere technique, etc. It happens to everyone, but less often to the great ones.

The line, "but we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you" is suggestive. A critic once said that when you are listening to a great pop singer, it is as if they are sitting on your lap -- it's very personal, and their phrasing has the natural musicality of the spoken word, like Sinatra, a quintessential example of the phenomenon. This was certainly true of Karen Carpenter, and why contemporary songers compare to her so unfavorably. They lack that incredible intimacy and vulnerability.

I reintroduced myself to The Carpenters after moving to OC (the CA OC) and getting to know an early member of the Carpenters, Gary Sims, at my church. He is in the Carpenters special that airs semi-regularly which made me watch it and I was blown away. I frankly only had the association of hearing the Carpenters while shopping in KMart with my parents and never appreciated Karen's voice, Richards musical talent, and the combo. I also heard Sing the first time with Ernie singing it on a Sesame Street double album.

I can now mostly keep the "Attention KMart shoppers, under the blue flashing light" mantra out of my head while listening ;-)

Going back from the Carpenters to group connectivity, Instapunk started an interesting challenge on Wednesday (and the results were in on Thursday), to compare the amount of profanity found on the most popular leftist blogs vs. the most popular rightist ( ? - funny how nobody uses rightist) blogs; the difference (lefties curse more by an order of magnitude) was not surprising, but just as interesting, I thought, were the responses the leftists had to this challenge (go to instapunk for the full commentary and rundown). Anyone paying attention can see the murky, proto-human group consciousness at play in their responses. To me the creepiest thing about all this - the huffpo, etc., is knowing that there are so many people out there who think and feel that way - angry at and hateful of virtually everything that is good and beautiful, especially if it makes this country look good.

As to the Carpenters - "Sing a Song" brings me back, somewhere near the Gagboy's current age. A happy time for this little kit.

"What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about."

Or, freakwhensee, as I see it.

"...I work in forensic psychology, so I am accustomed to crafting sound and unassailable medico-legal arguments. Part of this involves taking the report written by the whore who works for the other side and reducing it to dust with facts, logic, and the law. In doing so, there is "passion" involved, but it is nothing like the feeling of wading into the left wing fever swamps."

Bob said:"This is obviously what the secular person does not -- cannot -- understand about leading a religious life. They accuse us of "escapism," of believing in strange myths to shield us from the harsh realities of existence, in particular, death and loss. However, the opposite is patently true, at least for the invisible brotherhood of Raccoons. For us, religion is an INSCAPE into the most beautiful supraterranean cave art ever co-created by human beings."(Emphasis mine)

Inscape. Singing our own song that harmonizes with and accentuates the same own song all Raccoons sing.

Well, I'll try again. I haven't been able to get a post up in the last couple days. Blogger won't let me. And it's only this one site. I can post fine everywhere else.Anyway. Just thought I'd share a treat with y'all since the topic of music is in the air:"The Journey & the Labyrinth"The music of Elizabethan composer John Dowland performed by Sting with lutist Edin Karamazof.My wife picked up the two disc set with a CD and DVD of the production. Incredible stuff.

Bob - Yes, it is suggestive and inviting and seducing. Mr. E positively swoons when you mention Karen Carpenter's name. I swoon when hearing Frank telling me I'm "Too Marvelous for Words" and Leon telling me "There's no one more important to me Darlin' can't you please see through me Cause we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you."

Music is loved by everyone. I’m pretty certain I’ve never known anyone to ever to say or in print ‘I don’t care much for music’. Other than maybe food or air I’m struggling to think of another ‘thing’ that is so universally loved or built into us that is also so obvious to everyone. Love goes in the same category.Like love, biologically speaking, music is not necessary. The scientist skips over these. Music also seems to be one of those things that is infinite in you’re ability to love it. You can’t tire of it. If you were only ever exposed to one song, you would love that one song.

My wife always unashamedly mentions her love of Karen Carpenter songs. I admit I like them more than I’ll admit outside the coon squad. Now I see my own mind parasites were at it on this musical group. I’ll have to give them another look (listen). With ears made new.

Your analogy to a hologram is even better than you imagined. If I remember my college physics, a hologram is formed by splitting a beam of light (oneness) and rejoining it to form the hologram (oneness). I liked Karen Carpenter also. She phrased like a jazz singer, sometimes slighly behind the beat, but always in the pocket, with good intonation and style. When I first heard their recordings on a good system, I was amazed by the quality of her voice and of course the arrangement and clarity of the recording. And "I don't think I'm gay", he said, half in Ernest. I think Leon Russell was singing about his piano in "A Song for You".

Young kit here working my way through Meditations on the Tarot... I'm on the 8th chapter and I'm doing about a chapter a week. I'm sure I'm only getting a small amount of what's in there but it's wonderful.

And now I have to go check out The Carpenters. I remember them from when I was little and loving Karen Carpenter. Haven't listened to them in years. The amount of stuff I want to investigate that I've learned of here is kind of boggling. I'm so happy I found the den.

Yes, one of the keys for "hearing" the Carpenters is a good stereo system. It makes all the difference in bringing out the nuance, richness, and interior detail. There was an article about this in no less an authority than Stereophile magazine about a decade ago. Only then did I have the courage to come out of the closet and admit that I too was a fan.

The Carpenters have been a non-guilty pleasure since I was just a little monster. After hearing them first on a bank commercial in SoCal, my Dad started buying the Carpenters on 8-Track tape (and Al Hirt & the Tijuana Brass...)... they became the sound track to many a family trip. He used to Drive to the Beat of songs like "Saturday (Drive to the Beat - dangerous behavior for non-racoons - GAS, BRAKE, swerv LEFT,swerv RIGHT, to the beat- a skill passed on to me which my kids love, wife HATES!)".

Van said:He used to Drive to the Beat of songs like "Saturday (Drive to the Beat - dangerous behavior for non-racoons - GAS, BRAKE, swerv LEFT,swerv RIGHT, to the beat- a skill passed on to me which my kids love, wife HATES!)".

Karen Carpenter had a lovely voice. The other great vocalist of her generation (who was also a great songwriter/pianist) was Laura Nyro. Her best albums are New York Tendaberry followed by Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.

Nyro's songs provided hits for Three Dog Night, The Fifth Dimension, Blood Sweat & Tears and Barbra Streisand (none of whose renditions were as good a Nyro's).

"... they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about." and not surprisingly a rather flat one at that, many voices raised but no harmonies.

For the inscape to the InwardlyOutward ... frequency might just be a better word than location. The sense of reaching into the InwardlyOutward, somewhile back, was the first real shock to my horizontal world view I'd experienced, and it's still reverberating and resonating... yep, I think frequency, harmonic frequency, might be a real good description.

Yes, Laura Nyro was great, but her career was a bit preternaturally front-loaded. She wrote all those amazing songs when she was like 18-20, and sang with a maturity far beyond her years. But it seems like she must have gone nuts after about 24, when she first retired....

I think that the possessor of a k->onsciousness - particularly these days - can't help but pick up on the frequency of the collective. The irony is the collective isn't really aware of what it is thinking/feeling, but those with k->onsciousness are indeed aware of what the collective is feeling. Needless to say, for the k-person, this doesn't always make for a sunshiny walk in the park.

In other words, "normal" people by the millions might spend the day feeling vaguely restless and disturbed, none of them perceiving that they are adrift in a common bandwidth that is dictating their moods.

The k-person, however, having escaped the collective gravitational field, perceives, can often bodily feel the collective anxiety in its true depth - and that means being able to sense, feel the behind-the-scenes meta-forces at play in and around the earth.

Yes, yesterday was definitely wierd. Not in a good way. Came down with a chest/head cold and cough that is ripping up what's left of my voice. All out of the blue.

I attributed my malady to testing my voice - uttering the word "Hello" - before reciting the "White Rabbit" (3x) mantra that starts each new month. Now I'm resigned to 30 days of wierd-and-not-in-a-good-way.

I've always wondered whether or not it's a 'bad' sign that I can pretty much hear every note of the "Goodbye to Love" guitar solo in my head. At will.

So I suppose I may be gay. But my wife thinks not. ;-)

"For one thing, the [left wing fever swamp] is a hellish world in which facts and rudimentary logic generally do not apply."

Dr Bob mentioned:“Both Phase I and II were followed by a ‘book.' Do you think we have a new ‘book’ on the way for the 3rd Phase?"

Dr, I was not putting pressure on you to write another book – although that would be wonderful. Actually, I think your Arc series is a book in the making. Awesome to watch this genesis taking place.

But I placed book in quotes above because I was thinking ‘it’ (God’s next volume in the thrillogy of us) may not be in book form like the 1st two Books.

Considering our time and our evolutionary stage (collective spirituality and technologically speaking), what comes after the information age? …the inner information age? What would be God’s mode of delivery of this 3rd Testament? It would need to speak to us in our time and point of view – the child that we are today. Would it be unmaterial? I get the feeling that if we were told today the answer of just what this physical ‘thing’ is, we would not be able to recognize it as having been delivered. Because the preparation is not complete. No peaking, coons. But then again it may already be here…or at least partly here.

Bob said, "But my world -- if I may say so -- is fundamentally a world of surprise and of inexhaustible novelty."

Whoa, mine too apparently. Celebrating The Carpenters here at OC? I didn't see that coming. Delightful! Better find out what I've been avoiding, strike that, missing all these years. Every day truly offers a new frontier to explore.

Now off to the local music store (perhaps in disguise). ';0)

...and thanks much all for the congrats on the new addition to my clan (Vivian Rose).

"But a true group has an interior relationship, as if each of the members is literally tuned into the same frequency. What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about. I am quite sure you all know what I mean, even if you've never thought of it this way before. The surface structure of the topic hardly matters -- they can be talking about economics, or the war, or science, or religion, but whatever it is, the main thing you will detect is the deep structure of this painfully dissonant energy."

You're right about the aliens here on earth. I've been listening to AM radio on my mindless wanderings lately and have tuned in to Air America on several occasions. I'm not sure what it would take to dial in to the interior relationship required to find their programming even the least bit entertaining, funny or informative. It's like one huge inside joke that I guess i might get if I had spent the last 30 years ingesting large quantities of weed and hanging out in coffee shops in Seattle or New York. Otherwise it's just adolescent and annoying.BTW, I thought they went bankrupt? I know their "talent" is.

Bob, you wrote today that, "In my world, it is impossible to be cynical. Yes, I am cynical about their world below -- how could one not be? Rather...(mine) is an innocent world, and the fact that this world coexists with the other world is something of a miracle."

This is the daily paradox we face, isn't it? The "innocence" of Truth cannot NOT be cynical -- whereas, getting tangled-up in day-to-day undergrowth just grinds the soul down, and seems to BREED cynicism.

Yesterday, you referred to "increasing integration and centration" as remedy for internal "division"; today, you mention the "co-existence" of the two worlds. So, it is the inherent-purity of the (hopefully growing) innocence that allows it to "co-exist" in the undergrowth without being soiled? (And as the higher touches the lower, there must be an effect...)

I get the impression that just as the third thing is fully underway, mankind will be bursting across the stars -- creating a rift that communication cannot bridge fast enough (or not for centuries, perhaps.) Right now the technology is there to transmit information faster than we can transport people/materials.

But the idea of the 'singularity' over mere-lightspeed transmission is just an illusion, IMO. Put some folks on Mars and try to have a 'singularity' with them -- good luck getting the data to and from the two locations.

Compare this 'tech singularity' to the instantaneousness of collective/nonlocal unconsciousness.

In my mother's side, there is something called 'the sight' (their words) which is the ability to nonlocally talk to another member of the family in a time of distress. Recently, I was awoken by my mother's voice, clear as day, but she was miles away. We've got stories.

As for the carpenters, had heard of them but never listened. Maybe I'll scope out some of the stuff now... I do have some terribly excellent Bose speakers.

btw; I can't listen to half of my classical piano collection; the pianists (or some of them) are so lacking in feeling/passion that even Tchaikovsky sounds dead (even note-perfect!) Two pianists that I have liked are Jorg Demus and Emmanuel Ax. There are others, and as these things go there are as many excellent musicians as there are trees in the forest.

If it is as you say, I would be interested to hear her voice. Some musicians infinitely separate themselves from their audience with crass and idiotic lyrics; in that sense, being just a little sappy doesn't hurt, I'd wager.

Ms. E - I really almost choked on that one - I think a warning label was necessary ; )

Bubba - that was cool; I think I liked watching his face as much as watching the balls. Do you think he had the whole thing completely choreographed, or did he just know the music so well that he did whatever felt natural at the time? Either way, he was definitely feeling the music.

Last night my choir had our final dress rehearsal for our concert on Sunday. One of our songs is going to be sung with the Phoenix Children's Chorus, and one of the boys in the Chorus (kids in 5th and 6th grade, from what I gathered) was standing next to me. At one point, during an instrumental section, I glanced over at him. His eyes were half-closed, and with his left hand he was dreamily conducting, totally lost in the music. It was absolutely precious. It's fascinating to watch people when they're totally swept up in the music - even if they're not creating it, their energy adds to the effect, building it into more than it already was.

There are many African American artistic geniuses who were born after 1970, too. I know most people here look down on music made in the past couple decades, but acts like Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Nas, The Fugees, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and yes, even Kanye West have made brilliant music in recent years. They ain't no Howlin' Wolf, but then some people would say Howlin' Wolf ain't no Bach. I love Bach and Hownlin' Wolf and De La Soul.

Goy: I've always wondered whether or not it's a 'bad' sign that I can pretty much hear every note of the "Goodbye to Love" guitar solo in my head. At will.

Don't worry, that happens to me too - only with me it's George Harrison's solo on "Let It Be."

Cocytus: The Almighty gives us occasional shocking glimpses of the next level on the vertical ladder. Sometimes I'll be walking around and suddenly get a sense of deja vu - and then I'll realize I dreamed myself in the exact situation about five months earlier (?!).

I like Tubleweed a lot too. I think many of the songs we played in high school and college tend to get burned into our memories. "Crocodile Rock" brings back warm memories of that first kiss at the sock hop.

I have to add Honky Chateau since it contains my favorite Elton tune: Rocket Man.

I don't know what he has now. I see him on occaision in New York. Haven't been to his home in Toronto's Rosedale for many years. Back when we sort of hung out a bit he had a Porsche 911 Turbo, Maserati Biturbo, Mercedes 450SL, Jeep Wagoneer and a BMW 7 series.

His home is a real palace. He bought it back when houses like that were maybe $3 million. At least 5 times that today.

Well I went out at lunchtime and got a Carpenters’ CD. My wife was delighted.But before I found that one I just happened to I find THE CD I’d been looking for for a very long time. Chicago IX.The horn section speaks to the singer and the singer speaks back - like a conversation.

The whole album has new meaning lately, but really I can’t believe the lyrics to this song which I never really noticed till today:

(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long

Listen to a sample here:http://www.mp3.com/albums/3199/summary.html?from=3284&q=Chicago+IX

As my life goes on I believe Somehow something's changed Something deep inside Ooh a part of me

There's a strange new light in my eyes Things I've never known Changin' my life Changin' me

I've been searchin' So long To find an answer Now I know my life has meaning Ow oh

Now I see myself as I am Feeling very free Life is everything Ooh it's meant to be When my tears have come to an end I will understand What I left behind Part of me

I've been searching So long To find and answer Now I know my life has meaning Woah woah

Searching Don't you know I'm hell yeah For an answer To the question Oh yeah For our minds Baby Baby it's true It's only natural It's only natural baby, yeah Good things In life Take a long time yeah yeah

SMOOV: What about "Madman Across The Water"? That one's a personal favorite, if only becasue my dad listened to that album constantly when I was a kid.

And you've met Geddy Lee? Don't say that in front of my wife - she and her sister are the hugest Rush fans I know.

COCYTUS: I agree with you on the video-game thing. Some of the best composers to come out of Japan (and America) in the past thirty years don't work in movies. Nobuo Uematsu, Koichi Sugiyama, Koji Kondo, Hirokazu Tanaka, Yasunori Mitsuda, Akira Yamaoka, Tim Larkin, Jack Wall, Robyn Miller... and a special nod to Joe Hisaishi, who doesn't do video games but is worth attention anyway.

Oh, the other big thing that happened is that my copy of "Meditations on the Tarot" finally arrived.

The look on my EA's face is priceless when she puts this stuff on my desk.

Now all I need is a bit of time to actually read all these books. I'm about to enter the greuling struggle of second-round financing. I'm lucky if I have time to read OC itself most days (although I haven't missed a post since I started reading last autumn).

Well, it stands to reason if you speak the established language of music with skill real Music is bound to pop through when you let it.

Jacob: I'm currently listening to the Gensosuikoden Collections, Particularly the 'Ongakushu' (which just means arrangement.) Both Hiroyuki Nanba and Kentarou Haneda's arrangements are excellent. The music in these CD's is live-- and the quality is terrific.

Suikoden (there are five games) have particularly inspired soundtracks, in my opinion.

I just clued in about that "Red Barchetta" jest. It is one of Rush's songs. I didn't listen to Rush much at all then, and never now. I never went to one of their concerts, and they never listened to their own music, or even talked about it, at least around me.

Gary mostly wanted to talk about basebell. He was (and is) a huge Jays fan and it was one of his life's ambitions to buy the team. I don't think Rush made quite that much money though.

Now, as for the Carpenters, I just instantly loved the sound back when I was a kid in the 70s. There was this one "tough" kid in our neighborhood who also liked the Carpenters. So we'd covertly listen to the 8-track in his basement while the rest of the toughs were air-guitaring to Thin Lizzy.

This all has me reflecting on Bob's remarks the other day that looking back our lives seem to be almost scripted, as though we've been following a pre-scribed arc. All I know is I'm glad I escaped the vain flat world of atheism. I had lost interest in simple joys like the Carpenters. By 1995 I was flying around the Carribean, doing coke, womanizing and seeking out increasingly "extreme" "thrills". The Carpenters would have seemed hopelessly pathetic to me then. I wanted a cigarette racer! When I saw those Saudi yachts floating off the coast of Barbados (the ones that are like Russian dolls, with a smaller ship inside, and speedboats inside the small ship), I was envious as hell (even though it didn't feel like envy). This despite the fact that by that time I was already quite well off by most standards. I thought I was happy, but that's only because I confused the rush with happiness.

I'll be honest -- I'm not big Sam Cooke fan, for the simple reason that he mostly sang commercialized teenage white music. When he could really cut loose before a black audience he was totally different, but none of those records came out while he was alive.

Of course, it's a never ending argument, but a number of soul cognosecenti feel that Solomon Burke was the greatest soul singer. Here he is in a performance with Van Morrison.

So you have a thing for vinyl too, huh? I'm always amazed that so many people cannot immediately hear the difference. Well, most people can hear it on my system, but then most people don't have a Linn Sondek.

In terms of sheer musicality--and I'm talking now about the ability to physically reproduce the sound of live instruments, nothing to do with the quality of music per se--the closest I've experienced to a "musical Turing machine" is an old Sheffield direct-to-disc recording of Harry James played on the Sondek through a set of Little Big Horns.

No 16-bit digital recording can come remotely close to this. I believe it is due to the "screen door" effect of the quantization process, but an expert in psychoacoustics once told me that is BS. Who knows. All I know is that vinyl is always the preferred way to go.

Well recorded and mastered CDs are better than mediocre vinyl, but there's just no comparison between CDs and good vinyl. I think it's just because music is analog, not digital, and there's no way to capture all of the infinite nuance with digital bits. It's just a different experience -- literally, because vinyl captures much more of the emotion, the space, and even the feel of the room the music was recorded in. There's a "weight" to it that is rarely present in CDs.

Super Audio CDs and DVD Audio are definitely a big improvement. Since they use a 32 bit process they have 4 billion potential "samples" to work with instead of 65,000 samples that normal 16 bit CDs have available. Obviously 4 billion values allows for a much finer approximation of an analog waveform than do 65,000.

The thing with the high-end stuff is that it makes listening effortless. I get a headache when I try to use an iPod. At home I can listen for hours without any of the stress caused by the compression and distortion caused by low-grade gear.

Also, virtually every pop CD made in the past 10 years is complete audio rubbish. They idiotically got into a "level war" so that everything is pushed to maximum levels with heavy compression. Great for cheap iPods, terrible for actual music, especially if there are actual human voices or un-electified instruments invovled.

Yes, I figured Polanyi was the way to go. I've still got plenty of uncharted territory ahead of me. I am still in the place where I am overjoyed to have found out that spirituality is not only not naive and foolish supersition, but that it is about what is really real. I meet a heck of a lot of people in my line of work, and I travel extensively. You'd be amazed how many people there are like me. We weren't bad people, we just accepted the received wisdom and considered Scientific American to be the gospel, and Christianity to be quaint.

I'm still reeling from the sweeping changes my life is undergoing. Now and then I'll pause and look back 5 or 10 years: how could I have thought that way?

This IS the reality-based community. (The Left really do reverse the meaning of everything they say).

Speaking of authentic recordings. You can hear the tubes buzzing on this great one. Even on the CD. Listened to it the other morning just before meditating. Was a very good primer.Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7pGnPjYWFs&mode=related&search=

Shortly after 9/11--I had a friend in the south tower--I started my current company to make sure those demons never, ever get on our planes again. Some days it feels like our hands are tied, but we're making progress. We're on a first-name basis with the people at DHS. They care. We all care. We'll outsmart the buggers in the end.

BTW, USS Ben knows who my company is. I don't mind if he shares that privately with Bob or other true Coons, but I really need to keep that info confidential otherwise. Moonbats and Islamists never sleep. They look for any opportunity to malign anyone in the counter-terrorism community.

Wow, step out to chase some car repairs and people slap 90+ comments on the board.Loved the Juggler & Mr. Howler.On Elton John, I'm probably off on my own here, but Captain Fantastic is my favorite, start to finish.

And Smoov, "And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start to mold a new reality closer to the heart..." I'm usually not one for extended instrumentals & solo's, but when Geddy Lee and Neil Pert get going, I'm a believer.

Smoov,"I've still got plenty of uncharted territory ahead of me. I am still in the place where I am overjoyed to have found out that spirituality is not only not naive and foolish supersition, but that it is about what is really real. "

There was that certain summer intimately tied up with that Captain Fantastic LP... cool northern california nights, surepticious glances and snuggling... every pop and crackle of that vinyl playing on a cheap turntable is precious to me. I actually got that lp recorded to cassette and then years later to CD - audio quality's piss-poor, but sensory recall is Hi-Fidelity.

cosa: Eva Cassidy is the best. I love her album, 'Live at Blues Alley' -- if there is a singer who can bring me to tears every time, it would be her singing, "Fields of Gold", "Had I a Golden Thread", "People Get Ready", "Bridge over Troubled Waters"... (her rendition of that one I like a lot, though many, many have done it.)

It is a shame that she didn't get her due during her days, but isn't that one of life's unusual ways? Keeping us humble, all.

PS - as a pianist, I've never been impressed by vinyl. I think maybe I've never heard a good vinyl recording of piano music, but the piano on all old recordings vinyl or otherwise sounds tinny and empty. A lot of it, I know, is the mic used, and so forth.

Question is, what is the difference between excellent vinyl and excellent digital? Possibly, the vinyl will always suffer from poorer quality, but have better atmosphere. Wonder how one could get a bit of both?

That's a good point about piano. Perhaps it's such a "bell-like" instrument, that it translates well to the digital domain, whereas the human voice suffers the most. The new release of the Bill Evans Trio live at the Village Vanguard, the consensus choice for the greatest jazz piano album by arguably the greatest jazz pianist ever -- sounds phenomenal.

Much also depends on how well something was recorded to begin with. The art of recording hit a certain high point in the 1950s, whereras much of the music of the 60's and 70's was recorded quite poorly, including a lot of bad stereo.

If you listen, for example, to Sinatra's Capitol albums on audiophile vinyl, there is no way they would have been able to capture that same magic today. There is literally a "magical" element to vinyl that cannot be reduced to a scientific engineering category -- which, of course, drives engineers nuts.

As we were saying yesterday: you shall not turn stones into bread, or digital into analog!

River and Dr Bob,“As we were saying yesterday: you shall not turn stones into bread, or digital into analog!”

Perhaps it’s like the difference between a movie shot on film versus a soap opera shot on video equipment. Sometimes you’ll see a little of both used in a TV show – which are shot in film… and then some character picks up a video camera and your view is now through the camera. You can tell the difference.

There is a flatness – lack of color depth to video. Film is richer and smoother. It’s also a function of the frames per second displayed. If you go to the movies the delivery reading/equipment is much different process. Light is used to pass through film. I believe they still ‘flash’ each frame twice (the clicking sound on the old projectors). VHS magnetic tape recorder reads changes in magnetic field. DVD is different still. Laser light is used but to read a digital number basically which is later converted to analog. So there are a number of conversions involved versus film with no conversions at all.

I believe Mel Gibson’s new movie Apocolypto is filmed with a completely digital HD camera. I think it’s a first. There’s getting closer…but better. Well better for other reasons…not necessarly more accurate. But what you can do with the digital imagery later (color grading, etc.).

Eavesdropping in on the conversation - which is better than doing housework- I find analog is preferred - Cosa and River love Eva Cassidy too. And "What a Wonderful World" to know there are OC coons working behind the scene to locate, isolate, remove and, if necessary, eradicate the deadly mohammad and related parasites. My own chosen part to play is to inoculate the host through education.

I saw the film "Breach" last night -- a tribute to the worth of public service and the gravity of espionage. Chris Cooper's performance, as theextremely externally devout, but internally troubled Catholic spy Robert Hanssen, is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Hanssen's character is a sublime metaphor for the ever present unceasing work of God being hindered by the activity of man's fallen nature, by obedience to earthly passions. Such people breach the work of God upon their own souls.

One other thing about "Breach" (and I don't think I'm giving away the ending because we already know Hanssen got locked away in solitary confinement for life) is the salt.isfaction an OC coon will get when viewing the final scene: Two Coons taking an interloper down an elevator he had breached.

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About Me

Location: Floating in His Cloud-Hidden Bobservatory, Inside the Centers for Spiritual Disease Control and Pretension, Tonga

Who spirals down the celestial firepole on wings of slack, seizes the wheel of the cosmic bus, and embarks upin a bewilderness adventure of higher nondoodling? Who, haloed be his gnome, loiters on the threshold of the transdimensional doorway, looking for handouts from Petey? Who, with his doppelgägster and testy snideprick, Cousin Dupree, wields the pliers and blowtorch of fine insultainment for the ridicure of assouls? Who is the gentleman loaffeur who yoinks the sword from the stoned philosopher and shoves it in the breadbasket of metaphysical ignorance and tenure? Whose New Testavus for the Restavus blows the locked doors of the empyrean off their rusty old hinges and sheds a beam of intense darkness on the world enigma? Who is the Biggest Fakir of the Vertical Church of God Knows What, channeling the roaring torrent of 〇 into the feeble stream of cyberspace? Who is the masked pandit who lobs the first water balloon out the motel window at the annual Raccoon convention? Who is your nonlocal partner in disorganized crimethink? Shut your mouth! But I'm talkin' about bʘb! Then we can dig it!